Francis Spite & Co.

Mitchell Library, Stratten's Glasgow

Spite, a native of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, came to Glasgow in 1876 and opened a grocery business in New City Road. After a few years of profitable trading he was able to move to the handsome building illustrated, opposite the main terminal of the Glasgow & South Western Railway Company on St Enoch Square. The tall six-storey building was designed to give maximum window space. The letters SPQR which prefix the firm's name are not a reference to Ancient Rome but to the firm's maxim "Small Profits and Quick Returns".

Francis Site & Co described themselves as "wholesale and retail grocers, druggists, and Italian warehousemen". A vast range of food and drugs was sold including one of the firm's own concoctions, Pepsonymin, a best-selling remedy for indigestion.

Reference: Mitchell Library, GC f 914.1435 STR

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning